2005 жылғы АҚШ Гран-присі: Формула-1 дауы және жарыссыз жеңіс

Formula One motor race

The 2005 United States Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 2005, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One World Championship. The event is one of the most infamous races in motor sports history. Out of the 20 cars that entered the race, only the six cars from the teams using Bridgestone tyres (Ferrari, Jordan, and Minardi) competed. The remaining fourteen entrants, all using Michelin tyres, completed the formation lap, but retired to the pit lane before the race started. Following several tyre failures before the race, which caused major accidents for Ralf Schumacher's Toyota during Friday practice and then for his Toyota stand in Ricardo Zonta, Michelin advised its seven customer teams that without a reduction in speed in Turn 13, the tyres provided for the race would only be safe for 10 laps. Michelin had been providing working tyres for the race since 2001. The situation was worsened by the 2005 Formula One rules, which forbade tyre changes during the race, and a repave of the oval portion of the course after the 2004 Brickyard 400. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the sport's governing body, refused a compromise proposal from Michelin to allow a chicane to be installed, maintaining that such rule changes would be grossly unfair to the Bridgestone shod teams, who had come prepared with properly working tyres, and that a last minute change to the track layout would be dangerous in case of crashes. The Michelin teams, unable to come to a compromise with the FIA, decided not to participate. It was later stated that the Michelin shod teams could have potentially exposed themselves to criminal liability under Indiana state law had they competed. it understood better the loads the Formula One tyres would be under. Thus, Bridgestone was able to provide a safe tyre. Of the six competitors, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was the eventual winner, with his teammate Rubens Barrichello finishing second. The result moved Schumacher to third in the World Drivers' Championship—no driver above him in driver championship points took part in the race. The final race result was the lowest number of finishing entries ever seen in a major open wheel motorsports event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since the institution of the 500 Mile Race (surpassing the previous record low of seven finishers in 1966, a race marred by a major first lap accident that eliminated a full third of the starting field). The situation created enormous negative publicity for the sport of Formula One, especially in the United States, a market in which Formula One had struggled to establish itself over the preceding twenty years.

During the afternoon's practice session on June 17, 2005, Ralf Schumacher, driving for Toyota, crashed badly in Turn 13 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as a result of a left rear tyre failure. He was unable to continue racing, and was replaced for the rest of the weekend by the team's test driver, Ricardo Zonta, who himself suffered a left rear tyre failure during practice as well. Turn 13 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was a high speed banked turn, unique at the time in Formula One racing, which causes a greater than usual tyre loading. This section of the track had been repaved since the previous Grand Prix with a more abrasive surface which may have placed the tyres under even greater load than before. On June 18, Michelin reported that it did not understand why the tyres it had provided for its seven customer teams—BAR, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Sauber, Toyota, and Williams—had failed in this turn, and announced its intention to fly in tyres of a different specification from its Clermont Ferrand headquarters. The replacement tyres flown in, which were of the type used in the earlier that year, turned out to have the same problem when tested.

In a letter to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting dated June 18, Michelin representatives Pierre Dupasquier and Nick Shorrock revealed that they did not know the cause of the Toyota tyre failures, and unless the cars could be slowed down in Turn 13, they could not guarantee the tyres' safety for more than 10 laps. In a second letter, also dated June 18, Dupasquier and Shorrock confirmed that they would not permit their teams to race on the Michelin tyres used during qualification without changes to the circuit, and reiterated their request to slow down Turn 13. Whiting's brief reply maintained that no such change would be permitted, and gave the teams the choice of limiting speeds through Turn 13, using tyres of a different specification to those used in qualifying, subject to a penalty, or changing tyres repeatedly, which would have been permitted if a driver's safety were at issue.

The win, Schumacher's only victory of 2005, moved him from fifth to third in the World Drivers' Championship. Alonso and Räikkönen remained first and second in the championship standings, with 59 and 37 points respectively, while Schumacher moved up to 34 points. With his second place finish, Barrichello went into fourth in the drivers championship, with 29 points, and Trulli dropped to fifth with 27 points. The race was labelled a farce, and David Coulthard said that "it throws into doubt the future of the race in US". The Guardian Richard Williams considered the prior disputes a factor in the failure to reach a compromise and felt that the events at this race had increased the risk of a complete rupture. After the race, Stoddart admitted immediately that nine teams – all but Ferrari – agreed not to race, and had Jordan not reversed its decision at the last minute, Minardi would also have boycotted the race. In his later lengthier statement, he indicated that although it had been Michelin's failure to provide a reliable tyre which had initiated the events, he laid the full blame for the failure to reach some accommodation (which would have allowed a race to happen, for the benefit of the many fans who had paid considerable money for travel and tickets) to Mosley and the FIA, with a small share of the blame going to what he characterized as the obstructionist Ferrari team leader, Jean Todt. He furthermore called for Mosley's resignation.

The following day, the FIA published a justification of its refusal to permit a change in tyres or the installation of a chicane. It contended that Formula One operated under "clear rules" which could not be altered when a team "brings the wrong equipment to a race". It further claimed that a chicane would have resulted in the race being run on a track that had been significantly altered "without following any of the modern safety procedures", which would have exposed FIA to significant legal liability in the event of an accident. The FIA also summoned the seven Michelin shod teams before the World Motor Sport Council at their headquarters in France, for a hearing on June 29, to explain their failure to participate, by which they had presumably violated the terms of the Concorde Agreement. It later published copies of the letters sent to each team "in the interests of transparency". They were charged with violating article 151c of the International Sporting Code, which refers to "acts prejudicial to the interests of competition or motorsport generally". Specifically, it was charged that they had:
Failed to ensure availability of suitable tyres for the race. Wrongfully refused to allow cars to start the race. Wrongfully refused to allow cars to race subject to speed restrictions at one corner, which was safe for such tyres available. Combined with other teams to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula 1 by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race. Failed to notify the stewards of their intention not to race. On June 22, the FIA produced a press release from Max Mosley, in the form of a question and answer session, in an effort to clarify the FIA's stand on the controversy. In it, Mosley drew an analogy to a hypothetical situation where the engines from one manufacturer had oil starvation problems due to high lateral loading in one corner, and pointed out that those cars would simply have been forced to run slower as a result. He reiterated that the reason for not installing the chicane was purely that it had never been tested and was thereby deemed unsafe. He pointed out that the alternatives that the FIA suggested were feasible, and wondered why the teams did not use the pitlane as an alternative, especially when, with only six Bridgestone cars, the Michelin teams could still compete for the points scoring seventh and eighth places. On June 29, the FIA World Motor Sport Council found the teams guilty of not being in possession of suitable tyres, "but with strong mitigating circumstances", and failure to allow their cars to start the race. The teams were found not guilty of the other three counts. The punishment was not decided, and was to be announced on September 14. On July 22, the FIA World Motor Sport Council voted to overturn its previous decision, and exonerated the Michelin teams of all charges. The decision was due to "evidence previously submitted to the FIA Senate". According to BBC Sport, Dennis and Red Bull principal Christian Horner told Mosley and the FIA Senate that Indiana state law left the Michelin teams no option but to pull out of the race. They contended that had they competed, they potentially faced criminal charges for knowingly putting others at risk even if no accident actually occurred. Horner later stated in an interview that whilst it was "incredibly difficult" pulling out of the race, "there were things going on that were bigger than the sport that day".

On June 28, Michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had purchased tickets for the Grand Prix. The company planned to issue refund cheques through the Speedway ticket office for the price of all tickets for the race by the end of September. Additionally, Michelin purchased 20,000 tickets for the 2006 United States Grand Prix to be distributed to spectators who attended the 2005 race. In addition to the refunded tickets, there was some discussion about holding a second, non championship race at Indianapolis. On July 2, at the 2005 French Grand Prix, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis suggested that an additional race could be held at the American circuit after the last official race of the season, the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. The teams had apparently already discussed the idea with Bernie Ecclestone. The next day, Tony George dismissed the possibility, saying: "There will be no race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this fall." At the Grand Prix of Cleveland, held one week after the US Grand Prix as part of the 2005 Champ Car World Series season, free admission was granted to all bearers of ticket stubs of the US Grand Prix.